


Fade to Black

by mcal



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: F/M, How babies are conceived in Disney, Rebels Spoilers, overview of series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 13:00:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20930639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcal/pseuds/mcal
Summary: Found family of the Ghost crew... with Kanan and Hera finding parent time...





	Fade to Black

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Frumpologist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frumpologist/gifts).

> THIS IS NOW MY HEADCANON!! Because I needed to ask the question of when exactly Spectre 7 was conceived to Frumpologist... this oneshot is birthed of that conversation. 
> 
> Thanks to Frumpologist for her alpha eyes!!!! You’re an angel💙💙💙 
> 
> I own nothing, this was just for fun

* * *

“Hera? What are you—?”

“Don’t you dare finish that question, Kanan Jarrus.” She loosed a huff, her arms crossing over chest as her hip jutted out; far more exaggerated and intentionally seductive than when she took this very stance with Zeb or Chopper. “You’re a male humanoid. I’m a female Twi’lek with all necessary parts. We worked in exceptional tandem today, and I’m here to give you the option to see how well that could play out in other areas. Don’t insult either of us with faux confusion.” 

A smirk curled up his face as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Jedi, remember?” 

She answered with an indelicate snort that was far from condescending. Quite the opposite actually. “We both know it’s been long enough since you’ve lived under the law of the Code. Does this mean you’re in?” 

“Possibly.” He stood now, blue eyes heavy lidded, but never drifting south of her face. “But I think it should be stated we work well enough together to not want that to be complicated or changed.” 

“It won’t. You know how much all of you mean to me. How much what we do means to me.” Her eyes narrowed even as her arms dropped and she lifted her palms as a gesture of half-surrender. “You can say no and I’ll never ask again and we’ll never talk about it again.”

“And if I say yes?” 

Something thundered in her chest and head and her mouth suddenly felt as sand as she held his heated gaze. “We still don’t talk about it. We carry on as we always do, because this is our family.”

He was closer now. Closer and smelling impossibly clean and delicious given their diet of nutrition cubes and minimal allotted amount of time in a day in the ship’s ‘fresher. “And so…” His fingers danced in the air, the light’s dimming as an answer to an unspoken command. “You’re saying we’re the parents taking advantage of a free opportunity?” 

She breathed him in, reaching out to trace the edges of his perfectly cut jaw. “Exactly.” 

It was the last thing she remembered saying the duration of the night.

* * *

They hadn’t said it would be the only time, but true to their word, this… arrangement of sorts hadn’t affected their work. Nor the family unit. 

If Zeb or Sabine had suspected anything, neither of them let on. 

Neither had Ezra, their newest addition to this knitted and twined crew, bonded with common purpose and desire. Desire to drive the Empire from Lothal. From the galaxy itself, if such a feat were possible. 

Hera wasn’t sure if it was, if she were honest with herself. In fact, all she was confident of with absolute certainty for the time being was that Ezra and Zeb were fast asleep in their shared quarters, Sabine had excused herself hours ago, and Kanan… 

Well, Kanan had been in _ exceptional _form today while training Ezra. 

She’d seen him work through forms with his lightsaber before. Several times. And if she’d thought it’d made her feel unspeakable things before… That was nothing compared to watching him train someone. To step up and teach someone so young and eager to learn… To see him take pride an ownership to a part of himself he’d locked away; hidden from the galaxy for so long maybe he himself had forgotten it was still alive within. 

Like a covered flame, deprived of atmosphere until it’d been reduced to a pile of embers suddenly unveiled; freed to burn, thrive, and grow. 

Grow and call to the woman she compartmentalized and guarded so carefully close to herself. 

Well, she’d never been one to let a missive go unanswered… And perhaps he’d consider this a pleasant surprise in light of the chaos, running, hiding, and training their lives had become these past several—

He was waiting on her. Leaning into the wall, his hands in his pockets, a lazy smile crawling up his face as she crossed the threshold to his quarters and the doors slid together behind her. 

He’d even gone so far as to already have the lights dimmed to the precise setting she preferred: dark enough for the light to not be visible beyond the door while luminous enough to memorize the contours of his face, his shoulders, torso, and back as they found their rhythm anew… 

“What took you so long?” 

_ Karabast _, that smug flirtation should have annoyed her; probably would have frustrated her under normal circumstances. But tonight, it only served to weaken her knees, making her legs feel wobbly under her weight. 

She smiled inside, tugging at the clasp of her coveralls as she closed the distanced between them. “All good things to those who wait,” she murmured before rising up and claiming his lips with hers, the first of many layers to be shed that night falling to the floor. 

* * *

“Kanan, what are you—?”

Her question was silenced with his lips over hers and time itself slowed to match orbit with them. 

Because Kanan was kissing her in the middle their new Rebel base. Kissing her and running his hands up and down her back, pulling her tightly to him. As if he’d been a man parched for water and found the only water source for kilometers in all directions. 

Boots thudded the ground from somewhere around them, wrenching her unfortunately back to the present. 

The present that they were very much in public and even under the cloak of darkness, there were always sentiments and droids coming and going across the base. 

“Kanan,” she started, trying and failing to pull away. His lips only latched onto her neck, peppering a blazing trail down until he’d found that _ perfect _ spot… “Kanan, oh love, that’s—” A hum then breathy moan. “Love, that’s really good, but what’s this… this about?”

His mouth withdrew, but his hold didn’t loosen. In wound all the tighter as he lay her head over his chest, where she could marvel over beautiful sound of his beating heart as he stroked his hand over the back of her head so gently, it felt as a caress… 

Something a real lover would do for the woman he—

_ Stop, _ she told herself. _ Don’t fly into that atmosphere. Not now with all that’s changed already for him. _

Kanan’s low rumbling voice, thick and heavier than usual, broke the stillness of the night. “I needed to tell you again you were right.” Her throat bobbed but she refused to say anything aloud, opting to twine her arms around his taut and trim waist instead, stealing comfort and warmth from his embrace as he continued. “You were right about all of it and I’m so sorry for how caught up I’d been in my own struggles and failures.” 

“You failed at nothing,” she started, but he was already shaking his head.

“I was, though. Ezra needed me in the aftermath of Maul, and he needs me still. There’s still much for me to teach him, and I see that now.” His dark chuckle tickled down her back. “It’s funny, but I feel I can actually see things more clearly now than ever before. Even you.” 

He shifted his hold, tracing his fingers slowly up her side, then arm. Shoulder, then neck. Until finally reaching her chin, only for him to sweetly tilt it up to him. “You always see through the problems to the solution. Especially with me.”

She was overwhelmed… but she could do this. She _ could _ answer him like the confident sentient she was… “Well, give yourself some credit for being wise enough to admit it.” Her eyes darted left then right before she lifted herself up and brushed her lips over Kanan’s. “My room’s free on the _ Ghost _…”

“Good,” he murmured back. “I’d very much like the chance to show you how well a blind man can see with Force.” 

* * *

“What the—Hera?!” 

“Shhh!” She punched the lock code to the supply closet before sliding her eyes over to him. “Do you want us to get caught?”

“Caught…?” His eyes widened in sudden understanding and, _ Karabast, _ he was just _ so _handsome, and she and her squadron had barely made the jump to hyperspace in time today… 

“Maker and the Force!” One hand gripped her shoulder while the other cupped her cheek, his forehead pressing to hers. “We can’t… you almost… And there’s a debriefing you have to get to… Hera…”

But she wasn’t interested in excuses. Her arms twined around his neck and she crashed her lips up to his, kissing him with a fierce passion. So forceful and desperate was she that he lost his footing, tripping backwards. She released his lips long enough for him to catch his footing…

Long enough for his unseeing eyes to study her. To drink her presence in. To _ see _ her more than anyone else ever had. Anyone else ever _ could _. 

“How much time do you have before your debriefing?” 

Relief, sweet relief, and dizzy excitement thrilled through her body, coiling in her core. Her fingers teased the nape of his neck and she leaned close enough for her breath to kiss against his ear in that way that she _ knew _ he loved. “Not long enough, love.”

With something between a growl and a moan, he bound his arms around her waist, whirling them and pressing her against the wall. “I’ll take anytime you have to give me.” 

And he did. Twice before she showed up to her meeting flushed and breathing heavily and not at all focused on a word anyone was saying. 

Not with the memory of Kanan Jarrus’ desperate thrusts and strong hands so fresh on her mind. 

* * *

Hera was jerked from sleep, precious sleep, by a resounding kick—or punch, there was no way of knowing if it were a little fist or foot doing the deed—from within her abdomen. 

“Hey there, Spectre 7,” she groaned, rubbing her hand in a large circle over her night tunic. She hummed a few measures of something ancient and soothing from her own childhood, something her own mother had once sang to her. “Settle down in there. I know you think it’s fun to jump and play around so once Mother is finally resting, but I think your timing could use a little bit of work… It’s not exactly the most conducive for a full schedule the next day… But then again, I suppose nothing about any of the world you’re going to be born into is convenient.” 

Lothal was still being rebuilt, and everyday Hera, Zeb and Sabine kept a wary eye on the sky. Watching and bracing for the Empire’s counterattack to reclaim their lost territory. 

Ezra was gone. 

And Kanan. 

An unbidden lump swelled in her throat as tears sprang to her eyes. She’d thought they’d have dried by now. She’d made peace with this loss months ago, or so she’d thought. 

It seemed the Force had other intentions. Other plans like a pregnancy that’d caught her quite off guard. 

Kanan’s baby. Or Caleb, if she were to use his real name… 

Either way, this realization had been a shock. It’d never occurred to her to have her implant checked her last physical… She’d been otherwise preoccupied with the Rebel Alliance, after all. 

The news had brought her to knees, grappling again at the cave of grief. Grief that she daily locked as she busied herself with missions reparations across Lothal. Grief that some nights threatened to swallow her whole as her baby bounced and played within her swollen belly as she tried to find solace in sleep. 

Grief that lingered like a cloud. 

Sometimes a cloud of gails and furious storms. Sometimes a cloud of gentle and refreshing rains, soothing to a parched and aching patch of earth. 

Tonight it was the latter as she continued humming and rubbing her hands over her stomach, replaying through loops of memories of all things Kanan until her baby’s movements calmed and she drifted off into a sleep full of happy and loving dreams. 

And just enough to strengthen her for a new day, one where she would fight for hope and joy anew. 


End file.
